


blend in (or stand out)

by opticalprism



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Academy Era, Bechdel Test Pass, Female Friendship, Friendship, Gen, Holography, Male-Female Friendship, Starfleet Academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9619517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opticalprism/pseuds/opticalprism
Summary: in which Jaylah joins Starfleet, gets a single room, judges James T.'s use of emojis, interacts with fellow cadets, and is conflicted about her cadet's uniform.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Highlander_II](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Highlander_II/gifts).



> inspired by the end of _Beyond_ where Jaylah's not too happy about having to wear a uniform if she joins Starfleet and Kirk tells her that she shouldn't follow all the Academy's rules. also - Bechdel test pass!
> 
> (to my recipient, Highlander_II, hello and I hope you like this.)

 

* * *

 

Somehow, despite being a lowly first-year cadet, she's assigned a single.

 **> >** _You've got me to thank for that_ **< <**

(It started when James T. left her a good-luck message the day she left Yorktown for Earth. She replied, thanking him. And then, on impulse, she tacked on a comment.

 **> >** _Did you know how many rules there are for riding a Starfleet transport?_ **< <**

He replied a week later and they began messaging semi-regularly. Sometimes, he tells her what the engineers are up to. Especially when Scotty saves the ship by, to quote James T., "sheer engineering magic".

It is not magic. Engineering has sense and logic. Something that James T. occassionally lacks.) 

 **> >** _How did you get me a single, James T.?_ **< <**

 **> >** _¯\\_(ツ)_/¯_ **< <**

(He does that sometimes. Slip in words from other languages in his messages.

 **> >** _Teachable moments_ **< <**, he insists.

 **> >** _Bullshit_ **< <**, she retorts)

Jaylah searches foreign language databases for that sequence of symbols to no avail. She rolls her eyes when finally she discovers what emojis are and learns that for some reason, Humans derive extreme amusement from emojis. She judges the Human species even further when she discovers that Humans saw fit to include this... emoji-thing in an Earth-wide Computing Industry Standard called Unicode. 21st century Humans were crazy.

Then again, their predecessors had the Beastie Boys, so she can't be _too_ harsh on them..

(Jaylah once skipped a day’s worth of classes because she discovered old audio recordings of Beastie Boys live concerts in a music database. She hadn’t slept that night.

James T. did say she shouldn’t follow all the rules.)

 **> >** _Very mature, James T._ ****< <** **

**> >** _( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°_ ****< <** **

Jaylah saves the entire conversation. It will come in useful one day.

 

* * *

 

Skipping the odd lecture to indulge in fast-paced hip-hop is one thing. Not wearing her Starfleet cadet’s uniform is another thing altogether. It is a big rule. That she breaks.

It’s the color. Too rich. Too dark. For someone who’s survived by blending into the shadows and engineering visual illusions, the deep warm red contrasts too sharply against her almost-white skin and almost-black markings.

There’s also the part where it looks like dried blood and Jaylah’s seen enough blood-stained clothes for a lifetime. (She’ll see more, though hopefully not until she’s graduated.)

So she does the logical thing. It takes her a couple of months, but she jerry-rigs a holograph.

Now, as long as she wears something relatively form-fitting, she can project the illusion that she is wearing cadet red.

It is her armor.

 

* * *

 

But then, in total defiance of her expectations, she makes friends. She even shares a little about her history to them. And then, one day, when one of them’s in her room bitching about how annoying it is to keep cadet uniforms unwrinkled...

“Sometimes, I use holographs,” she confesses. She expects a reprimand - Tian can be a stickler for rules. Instead, Tian’s eyes light up in fascination and she steps closer, sharp eyes questioning what she sees.

“Can you turn it off?” she asks.

Jaylah hesitates; a tendril of paranoia snakes up. She takes a deep breath and squashes the fear.

She slips her hand into her pocket, taps out a sequence, and the illusion disappears.

Tian spends the next half hour grilling her about the mechanics behind holographs. She does not ask how or why Jaylah became so good at holographs (to survive).

Sometime later, after Tian has flipped some of Jaylah’s smaller holographs on and off dozens of times, she looks at Jaylah. “May I try on your uniform holograph?"

Jaylah frowns, assessing Tian's form. Tian is shorter, but... A plan forms in Jaylah's mind.

"Tell you what," she says. “I have some prototypes. I will teach you how to customise them."

An entire semester passes. By now, Tian has gained enough proficiency with holographs to project some reasonable-looking illusions. Although uniform holographs are still beyond her, Jaylah customises one for her (“birthday present”). They wear their holograph-uniforms together.

No one catches them, although some people in their group (Jaylah still has trouble believing she is part of a _group_  but here she is) comment on their smug faces. In a conclave in her room, Jaylah shows them her holographs. Entranced, Akita, Ali, and Ming become her new acolytes.

That night, grinning, Jaylah tells James T. about it.

 **> >** _The next time I'm on Earth to attend those endless meetings, lend me one pls. I hate those starchy bureaucratic uniforms._ **< <**

 

* * *

 

As months pass, Jaylah finds herself less repelled by the cadet’s uniform and more inclined to actually wear it.

Jaylah’s been alone for years, and while she felt a brief sense of belonging with James T.’s crew, helping them to take Krall down, she feels a greater sense of belonging with this rag-tag group of cadets. They study together, fail together, and blow up at simulators together. All in the same uniform.

Keeping it unwrinkled is still a bitch. All these technological advances and constant wrinkle-free uniforms can only be achieved with holographs.

Jaylah is tempted to try engineering wrinkle-free fabric but she’s starting her third year and, as 21st-century Humans would have put it, _Jaylah has no life._

* * *

 

By some strange coincidence in scheduling, James T. and his crew are on Earth for shore leave when she graduates.

“Holograph?” he asks, after congratulating her. “Looks like the real thing.”

She shakes her head and he raises his eyebrows.

“I thought you felt more at home with holographs.”

In some ways, he is right. Holographs have been a part of her life for as long as she can remember. (Her parents taught her. Back then, it was fun and games - she did not realise that they were indirectly teaching her survival skills.)

“For espionage and for fun, yes,” she says. “But I like looking like I belong somewhere.”

“You’ve always belonged, Jaylah,” he says.

She thinks of the various starships and bases that she and her cadet friends (now Starfleet officers!) will join. (Tian and Ming are joining James T.’s crew and Jaylah is slightly jealous. Flagship starship jealousy.)

“There is,” she says, and stops. Composes her thoughts. James T. waits patiently. “A difference between being told and and actually believing.”

Understanding steals over his face. (From history classes and cadet gossip, she remembers that he too, was an outsider.)

“And now?”

She pulls herself up to her full height. “I believe.”

 

* * *

 

Nowadays, Jaylah is not one for extreme nervousness (has not been since she successfully escaped from Altamid with James T. and his crew). Yet, she finds herself repeatedly checking her clothes. Smooths down her red Engineering shirt (she was not wearing a dress and her captain assured her that it did not matter either way) and runs her finger over the single silver band on each sleeve.

The starship's doors open. She snaps to attention and salutes.

“Jaylah reporting, captain.”

“Welcome aboard, officer,” says Hikaru Sulu. He smiles.

Jaylah walks the last few meters up the ramp and boards the _Excelsior_.

 


End file.
